Current Events

[rachsoph]

1. Saw the aftermath of a fatal traffic incident yesterday while taking the bus home (see item 4). Woman standing next to her car at a gas station was totally hit by a drunk driver out of control. Terrible. At 4:20 p.m.! Of note (I won't say "irony" like some media are): the woman killed worked as the legal secretary for a Metro Court Judge

Comments

[scoreboard]

Diesel NewBeetle?

Should I be striking this from the list? I really want 49 mpg but if I wanted a car that stayed in the shop all the time I would have hung onto my 1983 Monte Carlo. *It* had glass T-tops. ;]

[rachsoph]

Yep. The TDI. 2001. Strike it from your list and forget it was ever there. I have spent $2,500 on it in the 4 years I have owned it. Of course, the first 2 years when it was under warranty, I didn't need to fix anything...

Oh, and that 49 mpg thing is an urban legend perpetuated by VW to try to get you to buy the vehicle. The most I have EVER gotten was 39, and that was all interstate miles to California. In the city, I consistently average 32. That is the same or worse than a Honda Civic! I should have just gotten one of those. Oh, and I have the routine maintenance done and change the oil on schedule, so it's not that.

But, I hear that they run better at sea level in an oxygen-rich environment, something about the emmissions regulator liking that kind of air. Apparently, it doesn't like the High Desert of New Mexico.

Yikes!

[scoreboard]

Yeah, I would have expected reduced performance at altitude, but not reduced reliability. Diesels are supposed to be rugged and VWs are supposed to be well-built, so that's doubly counter-intuitive.

Ah well...back to investigating the new Saturn ION which they STILL don't have on the website yet. Gr.